I would like to ask what kind of physical conditioning is taught at shen wu. I have read that Mr. Cartmell favours body weight exercises, what kind of exercises are these and where do they come from?

They come from the Chinese arts I've studied, exercises favored in BJJ, other wrestling styles and others I make up.

In my opinion, most of the conditioning comes from actual grappling. We grapple 5 minute rounds, and I will usually grapple 8 consecutive rounds. Tim, what do you think?

Thanks for the replies, can you recommend any good reading material for these types of exercises?

Dan,
Scott Sonnon's "Grapplers Toolbox" is a good place to start.

Koojo,
Solo conditioning and cardio training are important, but I agree that you can't beat actual sparring for conditioning.

Actual sparring is bad for my heart so I stick with solo imaginary opponent sparring. This is how I spar. I have a hard time when I spar with Winnie the Pooh, he's like water. Tiger, never wants to spar he just keeps telling me how he could beat me easily if he wanted to spar.